Shareef Cousin
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Shareef Cousin was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death at the age of 16 in 1996[1]. He became one of the youngest condemned convicts to be put on death row in the United States[2]. His conviction and death sentence was eventually overturned after it was found that evidence was mishandled and the DA decided not to pursue the case any further.
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[edit] History of the Case
In 1996, Shareef Cousin was convicted for the murder of 25-year-old Michael Gerardi in a 1995 street robbery that occurred in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Gerardi was on a date with Conne Babin on the evening of the murder. Eyewitness testimony by Babin was an important factor in the trial. Babin told the jury she was “absolutely positive” that she had seen Cousin commit murder. However, after Cousin was convicted to death, his lawyer saw a copy of Babin’s original police statement in which she said she couldn’t describe the killer because “it was dark and I didn’t have my contact [lenses].”
[edit] The Principle Actors
- Michael Gerardi - The 25-year-old murder victim. He was on a date with Connie Babin at the time of his murder.
- Connie Babin - The 37-year-old girlfriend of Gerardi. She was over a decade older than Gerardi and was present at the time of Gerardi's murder. Her eyewitness testimony claimed to be certain that Cousin was the murderer.
- Harry Connick, Sr. - The district attorney of the City of New Orleans at the time. He is the father of jazz singer Harry Connick, Jr.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Amnesty International, Canada
- ^ Christopher John Farley and James Willwerth, "Dead Teen Walking," TIME Magazine, Monday, Jan. 19, 1998.
